There have been several attempts to provide damping devices or shock absorbers for moveable furniture members, particularly drawers. Early attempts include providing rubber or foam bumpers on the rear portion of the drawer or rear wall of the furniture frame. These solutions provide a relatively static bumper, which absorbs some of the force of impact, but fails when the drawer and/or its contents are heavy or traveling at a high rate of speed.
Pneumatic or hydraulic shock absorbers involving the use of pistons and a compressible or non-compressible fluid moving between two chambers are now being employed. For example, U.S. patent application Publication No. 2003/0213663 relates to a damping apparatus for moving furniture parts such as a drawer. The damping apparatus comprises at least two damping stages, each having a cylinder having a piston longitudinally displaceable therein which exert a damping action of different strengths.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/743,359, which is based on German Patent No. 102 61 591.8, relates to a damping device for damping the kinetic energy of movable cabinet components, which has a first damping element with a first cylinder that has a first piston, which slides lengthwise in it, and at least one more (second) damping element with a second cylinder that has a second piston, which slides lengthwise in it. Both damping elements are located one behind the other in a serial arrangement and form an integral system. The invention is characterized by the fact that each of the two damping elements are each designed as pneumatic (air) dampers, and a compression chamber and an expansion chamber respectively contain variable volumes; whereby, the damping effects of the damping elements are affected by the guide canals, which control the air distribution and air flow within and between the compression chambers and/or expansion chambers.
While there are many shock absorber variations, the cylindrical nature of the shock absorber and forces exerted upon it during operation present particular difficulties when affixing the shock absorber to a drawer or drawer slide. None of the prior art references address the need for a shock absorber for a drawer slide which is easily mountable and incorporated into a standard drawer slide configuration.
In another prior art example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,521, a pneumatic shock absorber is incorporated into the front face of a drawer to assist in the alignment and prevent dishevelment of the contacts of the drawer which can occur during rapid closing. While this arrangement may be suitable for some purposes, such as the feeder drawer for a copy machine or printer discussed in the '521 patent, most consumers require the drawer slides and related components to be hidden from view.
Therefore, there is a need for a shock absorber for a drawer and more particularly a mounting system for a shock absorber which can be easily incorporated into common drawer slide system designs without the need for significant redesigning of the drawer slide system.
Prior shock absorber devices have not combined advantages of a pneumatic shock absorber with a mounting device and system that overcome disadvantages of prior art mounting systems. In particular, prior shock absorber designs do not include the capability shock absorbing characteristics with a non-obtrusive mounting system.
Thus, there is a need to provide a shock absorber for a drawer slide system which includes a mounting system that is readily adaptable to existing drawer slide designs. Further, there is a need for a shock absorber and mounting system which can be assembled without the use of tools or adhesives. This would allow a user to provide shock absorbing capabilities to an existing drawer slide system without the need for extensive redesign of the drawer slides to furniture frame.
It is to these perceived needs that the present invention is directed.